


Say My Name

by Clankit



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, It's the name trope, Kissing, Nick Valentine (mentioned), Piper (mentioned), Romantic Soulmates, Short, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-05-19 08:02:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5959981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clankit/pseuds/Clankit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On that day, Nora died in the vault, but Sol was born.</p><p>And Sol, it seemed, had a soulmate. Because when she left that wretched vault, determination and agony clear on her face, she glanced at her covered wrist and paused for a second. She knew it sometimes happened, a person getting a new soulmate when their previous died, and part of her hoped it hadn’t. Part of her hoped that Nate Pewtersmith was still there written in Nate’s print handwriting, and part of her hoped it wasn’t. Swallowing, she slowly pulled back the sleeve of her left arm until she could see what name was written there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Say My Name

Nora throwed up as she crawled out of the cryogenic chamber. Nate is dead, and her baby is gone. Shaun’s gone. She’s the only one left. She’s the sole survivor.

On that day, Nora died in the vault, but Sol was born.

And Sol, it seemed, had a soulmate. Because when she left that wretched vault, determination and agony clear on her face, she glanced at her covered wrist and paused for a second. She knew it sometimes happened, a person getting a new soulmate when their previous died, and part of her hoped it hadn’t. Part of her hoped that  _ Nate Pewtersmith _ was still there written in Nate’s print handwriting, and part of her hoped it wasn’t. Swallowing, she slowly pulled back the sleeve of her left arm until she could see what name was written there.

In the exact same spot where Nate’s name was, there’s now  _ John McDonough _ written in shaky handwriting that looks like a nine-year-old wrote it. Sol didn’t say anything. Nora might’ve screamed, might’ve cried out into the sky, might’ve even cursed her soulmate and cursed the world for doing this to her. But Sol doesn’t do anything except roll the sleeve back down and march on. There had always been a small chance of meeting your soulmate in her time, and she was lucky enough to to be one of the few who met their soulmate. Surely there was no chance she would be that lucky again. 

“And where is your better half?” Codsworth asks, and Sol doesn’t know what to say. Should she say he’s gone? Should she roll up her sleeve and show him the new name? Her mouth is dry, and she takes a couple moments to think of a response. 

“He’s… in a better place now.”

The reporter outside of Diamond City has a girl’s name on her wrist. She only glimpses it as she’s shouting into the intercom, and it’s surprising enough that she’s not wearing a wristband to keep the name hidden, but more surprising that it’s a girl. Sure, males got male names and girls got girl names on the wrists, but everyone wore bracelets and it was one of the taboos society just ignored. Sol glances at the guards standing watch, because anyone can see the name if they look, but none of them seem to care, except a couple of them are looking at the reporter with amused expressions. It seems society has finally moved on from something that shouldn’t have even been an issue in the first place. 

Sol nearly freaks where she hears that the mayor of Diamond City is Mayor  _ McDonough,  _ but as soon as Sol asks what his first name is and he tells her, she calms down a bit. After all, this man clearly isn’t her soulmate, and anyways, McDonough sounds like a common name. There’s probably lots of people with that last name. 

When Sol finally meets Nick and realizes that he’s a robot, she doesn’t really mind. After all, Codsworth is a robot too. But Nick looks… different. Like a human. Does that mean he has a soulmate? After they’ve both introduced themselves, Sol hesitates for a second before speaking her mind. Sure, there’s no name on his wrist, but on his left one most of the fake skin has peeled off.

“Nick… do you have a soulmate? Or did you?” 

Nick looked straight ahead as he answered her question. “No. I’m not human, after all. But the guy I’m based off of had one.” He either doesn’t know or doesn’t want her to know the person's name, because he doesn’t say anything after that until they come across Skinny Malone. 

When Sol and Nick step into Goodneighbor, she isn’t too surprised when some ass comes up and starts to badger her. What she is surprised to see, however, is that the man’s left wrist is bare. When a person’s soulmate dies, the name is still there, but it’s faded. Instead of being in an inky black, the name would be in a light grey, a constant reminder of how the person they were destined for is gone. Not that there isn’t couples who are happy and love each other but aren’t soul mates, of course. At least that was how it was in the past. People in those relationships often said, “Life is too short to wait around for a person you might never meet.” And Nora understood that, and so does Sol. But this man before her has no name at all. Apparently, this man has no soul mate, unless the nature of the names on people’s wrists have changed and that’s how they look if your soulmate is dead. Sol will have to ask Nick about that…

And then the ghoul walks up. Sol only knows what a ghoul is because of the feral ones her and Nick have seen, and Sol isn’t  _ that _ surprised when he stabs the man who was hounding her to death. After all, in a couple of minutes she might’ve done the same, except probably with a gun instead. The long frock coat he wears covers up whatever name is on his wrist, but Sol doesn’t care. Nora was never one to pry about who someone’s soulmate was, and neither is Sol. Even though no one now seems to care if you know who their soulmate is, Sol is still cautious and keeps her sleeves rolled down at all times. 

After going through Kellogg’s memories, and seeing Nick speak in his voice, Sol tells Nick she needs a little time to herself. And even though it’s true, she stills feels bad when she sees the hurt in his synthetic eyes. She hangs around Goodneighbor a bit longer, chatting it up with the store owner Daisy who says nah, Finn had never had a name as long as she’s known him. And yes, ghouls can have soulmate names, why wouldn’t they be able to? Sure, they look a little funny, but they are still there. 

Sol doesn’t really like Bobbi No-Nose, but she offers Sol good money, so Sol goes along with the whole thing until they finally reach the store room and Sol finds out that it’s not the storeroom of Diamond City, but the one belong to Mayor Hancock. There’s no way Sol is going to get on his bad side, simply because she made a mistake of who to join up with. So she hides until the firefight is over, firing a couple shots at Bobbi before Fahrenheit tells her to go talk to Hancock. So she does. 

And when Hancock asks to come along, at first she’s going to say no. He seems a bit too dangerous for her liking, and she isn’t sure traveling with someone of his status will help her rebuild the Commonwealth. But then she sees the gleam in his eye, and the way he’s looking hopefully at her, and there’s nothing to say but yes.

It’s several weeks later, and Sol cannot believe that she even considered not letting Hancock join her. Well, now it’s John, and Sol had to smile when she heard that his first name was the same one as her soulmate's, because Sol would be lying if she said she didn’t like him. Sure, they became friends quickly, but over time her thoughts turned a bit more to the romantic side as they laughed together and cleaned up the Commonwealth. 

It’s a week after Sol has realized just how much she likes John, and they’re both drunk off their asses in some old pre war house in Sanctuary. Everyone has turned in for the night, even Danse, the paranoid man he is. And before Sol can stop herself, she blurts out a question that she’s sure she shouldn’t ask. “What’s the name of your soulmate?” Because even with all the time they’ve been spending together, his long coat sleeves had shielded whatever name is there from her sight. 

John sighs, the happy grin that had been on his face several moments earlier sliding off. “Suppose I should’ve suspected you would’ve been curious…” he paused to stare at the near empty bottle of beer in his hands. “And it’s fine that you’re asking. The name I’ve been ‘blessed’ with is Nora.” 

Sol’s heart stops. “Last name?”

“Young. Nora Young.” He says the name with distaste, before shaking his head and scowling at himself. “I don’t mean to sound so distasteful, it’s just that the whole soulmate thing? Seems like a bunch of baloney to me. If you like someone, you should just tell ‘em. Don’t let a name on a wrist stop you.” 

“John, what’s your real last name?”

Frowning, he looks at her with a puzzled expression on his face. “Now how’d you know my last name wasn’t Hancock? Sure, there would be no way in hell someone would be named that, but still…” Sol expected him to connect the dots, but he’s still just frowning at her. Apparently, drunk John cannot solve a puzzle to save his life.

Sol clears her throat, unsure of how to say what’s to follow, so instead she takes the bottle of beer out of John’s hand and drains the last couple of mouthfuls left in it. Setting the bottle down, she opens her mouth to speak. “Sol isn’t my birth name.” His eyes widen in surprise, and Sol thinks that there might be a glimmer of hope in there, but she isn’t sure, so she continues. “It was Nora. Nora Young.”

There’s a couple beats of silence in which Sol is sure her heart is going to pound out of her chest, because John is still just staring at her and isn’t say anything. Then, finally, he opens his mouth, and Sol leans forward from across the small table in between them, desperate to hear what he has to say. 

And as he kisses her, she relaxes, and she can feel some part of her finally letting go. Sure, she loved Nate, and she still loves him, but he’s gone, and life changes. Life happens, no matter how many times you wish it didn’t. Nate would want her to be happy. 

And, for the first time in a long time, she really truly is.  
  



End file.
